


Lily Teaches Remus How to Braid Sirius’ Hair

by simplysirius



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Feels, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Heavy Angst, M/M, One Shot, Pining, Relationship(s), Remus x Sirius, sirius x remus, wolfstar, wolfstar angst, wolfstar fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 15:40:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30125037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplysirius/pseuds/simplysirius
Summary: Remus recruits Lily’s help to learn how to braid hair so he can surprise Sirius after a long day of Quidditch practice.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 82





	Lily Teaches Remus How to Braid Sirius’ Hair

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on Tumblr @simplysirius for daily fics and fan art! I also take requests :)

“I need your help.”

“With what?” Lily said, raising a curious eyebrow when she saw Remus’ twisted lips, nervous hands wringing behind his back. Remus usually looked right at home in the library, not like he was going to keel over and die.

Remus mumbled a collection of garbled words, but when Lily’s eyebrow only arched higher, he huffed. “I need you to teach me how to braid hair.”

“Why?” Lily scoffed, hardly containing her laughter as she glanced up at Remus’ curls. “Thinking about a new hairstyle?”

“No,” Remus grumbled, rising on the tips of his toes, trying to bite back the flush creeping over his nose. “I want to braid Sirius’ hair.”

Lily’s lips parted ever so slightly as her heart swelled at the sheepish boy in front of her before she packed up her books and slung an arm over Remus’ shoulders, pulling the tall boy down to her level. “I guess I could do that. But it’s gonna cost you. My services don’t come cheap.”

“How much?”

“At least a mug of butterbeer. Maybe two. But I can give you the friends and family discount.”

“How kind of you,” Remus smiled, letting Lily guide them through the library and up the long flights of stairs to the Gryffindor dorm.

Remus sat quietly on the couch while Lily collected supplies from her room, his hands clasped in his lap. He could have asked Marlene or Dorcas to help, but they would have made joke after relentless joke, wanting to know why Remus had the sudden urge to learn how to braid, laughing at him when he inevitably did it wrong. Lily wouldn’t ask any questions; she’d just show him how it’s done and gently correct him when he started tying knots, not plaits. 

Rumbling down the stairs with a small box in one hand and a brush in the other, Lily joined Remus on the couch and set out her supplies. Hair elastics in one pile, clips in the other, pins in the middle.

“Have you ever braided hair before?” Lily asked, running the brush through her long locks in preparation for Remus wreak havoc.

“No,” Remus answered, stretching out his fingers. “I have no idea what I’m doing.”

Lily smiled, sectioning off part of her hair for practice. “We’ll start easy then. All you have to do is separate the hair between three strands, like this, and then you fold over the middle.”

Remus watched Lily’s hands work quickly down the length of her hair, leaving a perfect braid in their wake in a matter of seconds. He narrowed his eyes, peering at the twists and turns, and frowned. “Can you go slower?”

Lily repeated a second time, must slower now so Remus’ eyes could follow her movements. When she finished, she unraveled the braid and scooted closer to Remus. “You try now.”

Gently taking Lily’s hair in his hands, Remus carefully folded one strand over the other, his sections not quite even, his tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth as his forehead crinkled in concentration. When it seemed like the braid was finished, he sat back and sighed.

“That doesn’t look right.”

“Nope,” Lily agreed. “Inside over outside. Don’t move the middle. And you can pull tighter too, you won’t hurt me, I promise.”

Remus tried again, and when that braid looked even worse, Lily made him try again. They sat there braiding the same strands of hair for the better part of an hour, Remus’ large fingers fumbling and getting in the way of each other, not quite as agile as he once thought. Lily was patient, carefully guiding his hands and celebrating when he managed to get a single plait right. One led to two, and then two to three, and then – with intense concentration and absolute silence – Remus made a decent braid that ran the length of Lily’s hair without so much as a knot or unsightly fly-away. He only snapped two elastics trying to secure it, narrowly avoiding blinding Lily as the broke hair tie flew across the room

“I think your future as a hairdresser looks pretty grim,” Lily smiled, twirling the braid around her fingers, “but this isn’t half bad.”

“Just in time, too,” Remus said quietly as the Gryffindor door opened, James and Sirius’ roaring laughter echoing in the room before they even stepped a single foot inside. “Can I borrow a couple elastics?”

Lily nodded, quickly cleaning up her supplies so James and Sirius wouldn’t see, Remus concealing a few elastics over his wrist with the sleeve of his sweater.

“What are you guys doing?” James asked, his wet shoes squeaking under his weight and tracking mud on the floors. Their Quidditch robes were soaked through and dripping, dirt staining their faces, hair plastered to their heads.

“You look like you’re up to something,” Sirius mused, skirting around the couch and shaking his hair out, sending droplets of cold water flying, stinging Remus’ hot skin. Lily recoiled and hit Sirius’ shoulder, but Remus couldn’t help but smile.

“Nothing exciting,” Remus insisted. “How was practice?”

“Terrible,” Sirius said flatly, stretching his arms above his head. “He refused to cancel in the rain.”

“We need the practice!” James cried, pouting his lips. “I call the shower first!”

“You always get to shower first!”

“Guess you should’ve ran,” James shrugged, already halfway up the stairs. Sirius huffed, dropping his wet robe on the floor and flopping down on the couch, letting his head hang over the back.

Beside him, Lily gave a knowing, cheeky smile towards Remus and quietly padded towards her room, sending him a silent thumbs-up before she disappeared.

Remus watched Sirius carefully, the way his tired muscles laid back against the couch, how the long day weighed in the lines on his face, how his chest rose and fell in a quiet, steady rhythm. Even soaking wet, Sirius was beautiful, the rain unable to dull his glimmering eyes and radiant glow.

He let his fingers slowly find their way into Sirius’ hair, gently untangling the wet knots and snags, smiling as Sirius’ long lashes fluttered and he sighed, his muscles instantly relaxing under Remus’ touch.

Remus sectioned off Sirius’ hair just like Lily had shown him, finding three pieces of hair and folding over and under, slowly working his way down.

“Where did you learn how to braid?” Sirius asked with a languid smile spreading on his face, one eye peering over at him. He remembered Remus’ last attempt at braiding his hair a few weeks ago. It took him four hours to work all the snags out, and he had half a head of hair on his brush when he was finished.

“I’ve been practicing,” Remus answered honestly, trying to exude even a little bit of confidence as he pulled Sirius’ braid into an elastic. He raked his fingers through the rest of Sirius’ hair, finding new sections and twisting them, too, only messing up once because he was too busy glancing at Sirius’ sparkling eyes and flushed cheeks to pay much attention. “I know how hard you’ve been working between school and Quidditch and everything. I just wanted to help you relax a little.”

“You’re doing a good job,” Sirius said, pressing a gentle kiss to Remus’ cheek. “Next thing you have to learn is how to French braid. Shouldn’t be too hard; you’re already pretty good at French kissing.”

Remus batted Sirius’ shoulder, rolling his eyes. “Shut up.”

Sirius laughed, his fingers knotting in Remus’ sweater, tugging him closer.

“I had a good teacher,” Remus added sheepishly, his lips already occupied.


End file.
